


The Hustler

by gijane7702



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 20:42:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21362404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gijane7702/pseuds/gijane7702
Summary: Set right after "The Cloud": Kathryn and Chakotay brainstorm on how to help her fit in better with their crews.Pure unadulterated fluff
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway
Comments: 16
Kudos: 51





	The Hustler

To this day, long after _Voyager_ has returned home, people still ask how Kathryn and I managed to merge two completely polar opposite crews into one crew, one family. One that any of us would die to defend another, regardless of which "side" they had started off on. And, to this day, no one believes me when I tell them that I had very little to do with it, that is was all her.

Practically everyone makes the mistake of underestimating, even dismissing, Kathryn Janeway at first. She claims to be 165cm tall (she's shorter) and still weighs about 55 kilos soaking wet. She's tiny. Your first impression is that she comes off as all prim and proper, a Starfleet Legacy at her finest. The Admiral's daughter. While true, there is a whole other side to her that you would never imagine.

I know I certainly dismissed her when she first popped up on my view screen 17 years ago. The tiny captain with her tiny ship. I felt insulted by Starfleet that they had sent _her_ after me. But the minute Captain Janeway...she wasn't Kathryn to me yet...planted herself between Tom Paris and myself, she earned my respect.

After the Caretaker's array was destroyed we set a course for home, 75000 light-years away. The captain offered me the vacant first officer's position. Not only because I was the Maquis ship's captain, but because she had memorized my entire Starfleet record, as well as an intelligence report on me. She knew my capabilities.

The entire journey I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but especially not those first few weeks. My crew was still pissed at what she did and what she...we...expected them to do. Her crew was insulted that they had to work with mine. There were a few incidents (thanks, B'Elanna) that we heard of and I'm sure there were plenty more that we didn't.

Then Tom introduced the Chez Sandrine's holoprogram. It was the perfect way for the two crews to break the ice without breaking each other. I was fine with it as long as they kept it to the holographic alcohol...I even shot a few rounds of pool with them.

Then in the evening on the day we had to repair the lifeform we'd mistaken for a nebula, Harry Kim walked in with Captain Janeway.

Naturally, everyone in the place froze. I was mid-shot when she came in. Waving everyone off back to at ease, she looked around excitedly. Luckily for me, that half Daliwakan gigolo Tom had programed distracted her by flirting. While I regained my composure, Kathryn exclaimed over the table then asked if she could play. Bemused at her, I lent her my "stick" when asked, then stepped back to watch.

What I witnessed next I would pay any amount of latinum to see Starfleet's reaction to: Captain Kathryn Janeway was a natural born hustler.

I have no idea how my jaw didn't drop to the floor. It took her less than ten shots for her to clear off her solid balls. Tom was flabbergasted. The rest of the crew, who had all paused to watch, were stunned. Sandrine, Guant Gary, and the gigolo found it hysterical_._

Kathryn turned around and handed me back the cue. Blue eyes wide with feigned innocence, she asked me, "Did I do okay, Commander?"

I learned right then and there something I'd wouldn't ever forget for the rest of my life: never underestimate Kathryn Janeway.

I couldn't help it...I burst out laughing. She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Not too bad, Captain. Thought you'd clear the table in less than five shot though," I told her, slightly worried it might be insubordination.

"I'm a little rusty...haven't had the time to practice in a few years." But she grinned, pleased as punch with herself.

Sandrine left Harry and came over to the captain, offering her a glass of wine "on the house". Kathryn declined the wine in favor of cognac, much to Sandrine's delight. The captain invited me to join them and as we headed to the bar, I caught the still dumbfounded looks on the crew's faces.

After pouring our cognacs, Sandrine bustled off to serve other patrons. Kathryn settled back on her bar stool propped up by the bartop legs crossed watching out over the crowd. After taking a sip, she said to me, "Chakotay, I have to figure out how to get through to our crews." Her use of _just_ my name got my attention. She had always referred to or called me by my title up until that moment. "I'm the captain, I get that, but I'm feeling...distanced...from everyone."

I understood what she meant. "We were taught at the Academy that ship's captains are this larger than life persona; an almost a mystical creature that you know of but never see."

"Yes! Exactly!" she exclaimed. "Given our situation, I don't want that. But my Starfleet crew is trained in protocol and your crew...well...they probably hate me.

"You want me to be honest with you," I asked her.

"Always," Kathryn replied, staring straight into my eyes.

"They don't hate you." At her unbelieving look, I reiterated, "They don't. They're angry at our situation, but you gained some respect from them when you made B'Elanna chief engineer over Carey."

"Miss Torres... B'Elanna...earned it. For the most part, you're having no problem fitting in with either crew. The Starfleet crew knows you used to be one of them and have pretty much welcomed you back into the fold and you fought alongside the Maquis crew. What do I need to do?"

I paused, thinking on it. The newly arrived Gerron and Ayala racking up the balls for game of pool caught my eye. A brilliant (If I do say so myself) idea popped into my head. Grinning, I turned back to Kathryn. She cocked an eyebrow at me. Leaning in, I whispered, "Want to earn their respect?" She nodded, then followed the quick glance I sent back at the pool table. "You're going to hustle them."

I snorted the sip of cognac that I had just taken at the delighted but evil grin that came over her face. Kathryn burst out laughing, but sobered when everyone looked over at us. The innocence mask...well, now I knew better...fell back in place. She made a big deal of pounding me on the back until everyone stopped paying attention to us.

"That is absolutely brilliant, Chakotay! It'll have to be tonight since I'm already learning gossip travels quickly on this ship. Let's go!"

She hopped down off of her stool, masterfully not spilling a drop of her drink and sauntered over to the pool table. I followed.

Both men looked up right before cueing off. Straightening as she placed her drink on the edge of the table, they looked at her and Kathryn casually said, "I get winner."

Ayala didn't bat an eyelash, but I knew he was amused...and probably knew something was up. He made eye contact with me, but I managed to remain impassive. Gerron was too young and too cocky to pick up on our (or her) cues. "You're on, Captain. Let's play now. Mike, give her your cue. What are we playing for?"

Kathryn pretended to think about it. "What about a week's worth of replicator rations?"

Ayala choked on his beer, definitely now knowing something was going down. O'Donnell, Dalby, Bendera, and Hogan all came up to watch. Luckily for Kathryn, none of them had been in earlier when she hustled Tom.

"Done," Gerron said, spitting in his hand, then stuck it out to Kathryn. She didn't even blink as she spat in her own hand and shook his. "Ladies first, ma'am."

That was the last time any member of my crew underestimated Kathryn Janeway and it's how she earned their respect.

The grin faded from Gerron's face when Kathryn pocketed three balls on the opening shot. "Stripes," she announced, giving her opponent no opening shot. It was impressive to watch.

"Sonofabitch," I heard Dalby mutter.

O'Donnell was silently shaking with laughter. Ayala and I watched amused as the tiny little captain made her way around the pool table surrounded by some of the galaxy's most wanted men and shook them down. Gerron got one shot (and missed) before Kathryn finished him off.

"Good game, kid. Thanks for the rations," she told a stunned Gerron, handing Ayala back the cue. "Let me know anytime you want to play."

There were tears of laughter flowing down O'Donnell's face now as Kathryn picked up her drink and ambled away. All six men looked at me. I just shrugged my shoulders.

From the entrance to the bar, Kathryn called, "Do you still have time tonight to teach me how to speak with my Spirit Guide, Chakotay?"

My crew looked from me to her and back again. They knew how sacred my spirituality was to me. If I was teaching Kathryn… "I'll be right there, Captain," I called to her.

To my crew, I said, "At least she hasn't tried to kill hers yet." They laughed...two years later and B'Elanna would still never live it down.

"Lot more than meets the eye with that one apparently," Ayala finally said. Dalby snorted his agreement.

"And don't any of you forget it," I told them.

"I won't," Gerron muttered. We all laughed.

"She might do things by the Starfleet book for now, but I think she's got the potential to learn some Maquis maneuvers." That was the highest praise I could give Kathryn, and they knew it. 

Excusing myself I headed towards her. Cocking an inquisitive eyebrow at me, I told her as I approached, "Mission accomplished." She grinned.

"What are you grinning over, my warrior?"

I blinked, looking up from my console, coming back into the present.

Kathryn, who has been my wife now for thirty plus years, stood in the doorway with our youngest grandchild propped on her hip. She was still as beautiful as the day we had met. Her auburn hair has faded to a light peach, but she was still as fit and trim as she had always been.

"I just wrote a chapter I titled 'The Hustler'," I told her, chuckling as she began to blush. "Have we heard from Gerron lately?"

"I spoke to him last month," she replied primly.

I couldn't help it...I burst out laughing. Kathryn's eyes narrowed. She put down our grandson, telling him to go find his father, our son. After he had scampered away, she turned her attention back to me. I rolled back the chair from my desk and patted my knee.

She sauntered over to me, hips swaying. I licked my lips in anticipation as she sat down in my lap. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she nuzzled my nose then dropped a quick kiss on my lips.

"I'll never forget the looks on their faces," she laughed.

"I have no idea how I kept a straight face," I told her.

I leaned down and kissed her, loving the shiver of desire that ran down my spine. It had never gone away in years we had been together and I knew it never would.

As she returned my kiss, we heard our grandson ask, "Daddy, what's a hustler?"

The two of us pulled back and grinned at one another. Another generation would soon learn.


End file.
